We need some kind of paradigm shift in battery tech because that's the real bottleneck. We're gonna be hardstuck at this level in portable gaming without some major advancements in that field.
Using ARM SOC's and an extremely good translation/emulation layer like how Apple currently has would be another option to significantly increase performance while reducing power consumption.
It is as hard as defying gravity😂😂😂. We have chemical limit. The only viable option is nuclear battery but it will never be commercialized for a long time by safety concerns.
Battery tech was always the bottleneck we could have had so many things much faster if it wasent for need for more power advances in battery tech is the #1 thing why these devices exsist now and did not exist 20 - 30 years ago
The Steam Deck, ROG Ally, even Switch etc. really highlight that battery technology can't keep up with how fast CPU, GPU and storage technology is advancing.
The switch is still kicking the shit out of the other x86 handhelds for battery and it's doing it with a battery less than half the size too. It's hilarious too, because it's running an ARM based chip from 2015 so you know if something modern and ARM were released and had developer support it would decimate any x86 competition in a handheld space (like the Macbook vs literally any other laptop now).
sure altho the phawx, eta prime, taki, retro game corps, etc channels have reviewed these handhelds just as in-depth, actually more pointing out way more aspects, but def still love digital foundry especially for everything none handheld
Sold the deck for this. Still have a Switch. Looks to be a solid choice especially considering I’ll have access to my other library of games without having to do much
my doubt is whether Asus will treat the ROG as a finished product, as they do with their cell phones. Or whether it will be a console, which receives updates and improvements over time, so that games continue to run on the same product for an entire console generation, like the steam deck.
Whether they do further support or not, it's almost guaranteed that it will be far less support than what Valve is doing with SteamOS. Parts like replaceable sticks after the originals start drifting would be my main concern.
My main prediction would be that steam will release steam os as a open operating system to all these handheld gaming pc's. steam at the end of the day is mainly a game store and not porting the os is a huge missed oportunity
@camilo fuentes the os is open-source. They don't need to port. Anybody can use it, including you. If you want to create your own gaming OS. It's under Linux free license
asus's whole software and side menu is extremely bugged and controls works on and off in games, this thing is a buggy mess and knowing asus, if this doesn't sell well enough they'll drop support like a hot potato under 6 months, leaving people with a clunky mess of an unoptimized menu that will never work long term for future game releases past 2023.
Latest update gives major performance boost across all TDP settings plus it fixes the issues with the proprietary software. Also, Asus will be allowing the option to park CPU cores, which should increase the performance even more at low TDP. It would be great if you guys can test Auto TDP with the Ally. The Phawx was able to double the battery life of games using this tool while keeping the 60fps target. This is huge and tells us about how crazy efficient the Z1 can be.
If anything, this underscores how amazing a piece of work Proton is. The steam deck manages to stay within shouting distance of a system running native windows on a significantly updated SoC.
And I bet in edge cases like GTA4 the Steam Deck will outperform the ROG Ally because those single threaded chunky games from the early 2010s get a multiplier performance boost from the DXVK translation layer built into Proton which converts them from outdated apis like DX9 and 10 to multithreaded vulkan.
True, on the other hand - they are both X86 processors - So the translation isn't as hard as for Apples M chips vs their old intel chips..Which is truly impressive
@@christianmn1981 translation at the instruction level from X86 to Apple Silicon is more time-consuming in terms of instructions on the CPU, but not that difficult to implement. Both X86 and ARM instruction sets are well-documented and comparatively small compared to Win32 and DirectX APIs. Valve has been working on Proton for 5 years. Wine, the project it's based on, has been 30 years in the making. Game developers, especially very talented ones, have the annoying tendency to abuse bugs and unexpected behavior they find in the software they use to make their games run faster. The reason why X86 emulation through Rosetta 2 is so fast is that Apple designed their silicon to emulate X86 well. If you're interested, X86 and Apple Silicon use the same memory layout whereas it's reversed for some data types on standard ARM chips (see "little endian" vs "big endian" byte order). When a standard ARM chip emulates an X86 processor, it spends a lot of time swapping bytes around. Apple Silicon does not need to do any of that.
Lmao Steam Deck's 15W performance vs the Ally has nothing to do with Proton. It's the custom AMD APU that the Steam Deck uses that deserves the praise.
Only been a year?! Must say as cool as the Ally is props to Valve for heading in this direction, It's really opening up a new niche, Might even lead to a successful Steam OS/console someday with the traction gained. I thought it was out for like 3 years with all the improvements and competition that's opened up! Looking forward to seeing the portable pc gaming space grow
I don't really want another console, honestly. I like that more people are getting into videogames on PC because it's so much more flexible and has such a higher ceiling.
@@dandiaz19934 I didn't mean to word it like another console entirely, but more a PC that just boots up into a game based OS for those who are on a budget or brand new to pc gaming. Something modular to help introduce people into PC gaming. Microsoft has even been looking into making a more gaming orientated OS for these type of portables (probably looking to make their own too!) It's the one thing besides budget i feel keeps many people back. The portable stuff is already doing that but how about a cheaper version without the screen and portability? Raise the bar for other manufactures besides nintendo's switch. More competition is a win for us gaming. It's always been treated as a more exclusive thing but now a days the consoles all use PC architecture from AMD for Xbox and PS & Nvidia for the switch. The foundations already laid down for some easier avenues to PC gaming. It'd still be a PC, Just open sourced to install whatever the manufactures want. It's a bit of a pipe dream but i'd have said the same about Steam deck back in 2015. It's a lot more successful than i bargained it for after being a supporter of steams previous endeavours with Link and the controller. I feel we're in the early years, I compare it to a change like when we first got Xinput support for PC and could use 360 controllers. It was fantastic for people coming over from consoles as i was in 07' and now is just a norm for just about everything.
@@pneumonoultramicroscopicsi4065 I think on the DF podcast (maybe heard this elsewhere?) that MS was actively working on an OS update for these types of machines. I maybe worded that OS wrong. I'd like manufactors to have the ability to put windows, Steam OS, whatever they want to and we just have more options and competition :) I'd hate to switch from Windows in all honesty. I've been used to it most my life, I work and use programs that are windows only. It'd just be neat to open up PC gaming to as many people as possible, It's grown so much already but having cheap non portable screenless examples like the asus and steam os? That'd be a pretty good option for someone new compared to buying a prebuild or doing loads of research, it'd knock the price down a fair amount, apologies for my shoddy explanation friend, i share your opinion.
The steam deck has so much support both from valve and the community ounce the ally starts dropping off a little in profits asus is going to spit it out and move on to the next thing
You think the ally won’t have a community supporting it all the same? A lot of the people building up the ally community are going to be the very same people who got a steam deck at launch
@@xMRxLAMAx what it means steam os is open-source. So if there's a bug. Anybody from the community can write code for it to fix. Valve don't have to pay No one to maintain it. However windows is closed source. Only Microsoft has the right to do any change to it. I'm thinking ASUS had to buy windows liscence to modify anything
@@xMRxLAMAx for instance if valve just disappeared from the face of the earth. The community can still build the os and push update. Microsoft will not dedicate a team to support a product that's not theirs
@@xMRxLAMAx it will be limited because it's running windows. You won't have something like decky plugins and etc that let users customize steam os to their taste.
Wouldn’t it make sense to make these handhelds 720p native? The screen is so small, I’d imagine the pixel density would still be pretty high and you’d help along the frame rates
Or you can just do 1080p for the games you want and do a pixel dense image, and then do a lower resolution for more intensive games since it’s a small screen.
I remember that when the steam deck was announced some people were expecting a 1080p screen. These people doesn't seem to understand the sacrifice in performance at 1080p (and reduced battery life), literally some games are unplayable just cause of the res bump. Also people expecting a 1080p display on the "switch 2" = 🤡
The SOC in the Ally is really cool, but I'm not in a rush to sell my Steam Deck to get one. No touchpads on the ROG is a dealbreaker due to how often I use them for general desktop mode controls on the Deck.
Same. I'm a point and click adventure kinda gamer, and the lack of touchpads pretty much makes the Steam Deck my only option. Luckily, it's also (at least in my opinion) still the best option. The Ally has access to more power, but what's it all for if the battery life is dogsh*t? Might as well keep playing on my rig if I have to stay near an outlet to really gain the benefits of having more power. The Deck can throw out great performance at stupidly low wattages, which I think is a lot better.
and dont forget that steam deck uses a xbox kind of joysticks not gpds one ( bad for shooters) Allys only + is more power, and windows based console thats all... all after is a steam deck my leader but both are monsters imho
I never use point and click so never use the Touch pads and in desktop mode I get too frustrated I always switch to an external mouse and keyboard. I wont miss them on the Ally. There's no desktop mode since it's already there. If you need a Bluetooth mouse Windows can do that and use onscreen keyboard.
Hope that battery is easily accessible/replaceable, because the longevity of the pack may not be so good. Charging at 65w means faster charging, but also faster degradation.
i love all the comments that are basically "competition is good, but I don't switch from deck or even consider anything once deck two comes out". Thats not how competition works - if YOU are not likely to ever switch, then no, you don't actually like or support competition.
I think the Deck is still the best handheld PC device in balance. Seems the bespoke software Valve worked to implement generally provides a more optimised experience. Will be interesting to see a refreshed version in the future with newer more performant hardware.
I also think the Steam Deck might be a more polished device where the Devs seem to be aware of the hardware limitations regarding battery and power consumption. The Rog doesnt seem to be of any use. Nintendo did the same compromise with the switch. Imho, everyone using such a handheld is inclined to accept certain drawbacks in performance. If I want to play AAA games in ultra-high specs I use my gaming PC. I don't expect a handheld to be able to keep up with it. This never changed the last 40years and probably won't.
To me just throwing more power and 1080p screens show Asus didnt quite understand why the steamdeck works in first place. After trying a steamdeck I was convinced that more pixels was clearly not what was missing. Steamdeck is an affordable package that made smart choices and that let the users set power, refresh and performance target to taylor his experience, all in an integrated and unified interface. Just having more power to push useless pixels on a 7" screen is just a waste of power. Kudos to Asus tho for having actually put some thougth on armory crate and not just run windows and call it a day.
Steam deck disply is atrocious to say the least, No vrr support, colors look washed out, poor viewing angles not to mention lack of 120hz support which if you are into playing older titles is a great experience
@@VaydaladaVodalada I actually didn't bought the deck and went for a more expensive gaming laptop instead which suits better my utilisation. But I still thinks that pushing more frame at higher settings should have been the goal of Asus and not wasting the power on 1080p instead of 720p on a screen that small.
25:00 it’s funny how when the steam deck came out every reviewer complained about the battery life and yet even now it’s still miles ahead of the competition
I’m keeping my ally for one reason: emulation. Being able to run the actual pc emulators, drag and drop wirelessly from my pc, and it’s ready to go. And it plays everything! PS3 included.
I'm glad to see more competition in the handheld pc market but I'm sticking with my steam deck for now. I bought the cheapest model and upgraded the ssd, meaning I'm into it for 450, not 650 so that 700$ price point is meh to me
I appreciated the better audio mix in this one, Richard! The music wasn’t stealing my brain’s CPU cycles while trying to process all the numbers and comparisons being rattled off 😂
Steam made a commitment by using Linux as the OS. They invest a lot in it. The Handhelds using Windows just buy a licens and done. No one can do anything but MS. For the Steam Deck on the other Hand, the whole Community can help improve and many Companies help develop.
True but it’s not hard to install a new os, just cause a device ships with an OS doesn’t mean it can’t be changed, especially windows, it’s so easy to switch from windows to Linux now
@@eniff2925 Unfortunately most Windows users never had to install Windows or any OS. Linux is freakin simple to install but the normal user doesn't know that.
Steam Deck remains the most balanced and sensible option. The point of these handhelds isn’t to play current AAA games anyway. It’s to play all those fantastic slightly older games in your Steam library. Also, I can’t live without the SD’s touchpads. They’re awesome for games that need a mouse.
I call BS on this. I’ve been on this space since the days of Retroid and WinGPD and hardly anyone wants to play PC games on handheld. The world of handheld is emulation and pushing the boundaries of emulation. With each new handheld released everyone bought it to see what latest in emulation can it push. Right now the milestone of emulation is PS3 at stable rate of 60fps and Steam Deck doesn’t quite have the firepower for it.
I think that competition is good. I doubt I will be getting rid of my Deck. While I know it's not a huge deal for everyone? I do like the trackpads on the deck. We need an advance in battery technology though if these kinds of portable PC's are to become the norm. I do think battery tech will get better, but new PC hardware comes out every year and will such battery tech be able to keep pace?
It's not really about battery technology "keeping pace" because PC hardware (desktop & laptop) has always been drawing around the same amount of power, due to thermal and cooling limitations (all silicon chips can't really stand above 90C without starting to degrade). Every new generation of hardware gets more efficient, and does more work (faster) for the same amount of power drawn, but the same thermal/power limits always applies. Battery life has almost always been the second consideration to thermal limits. That's why most phones only draw under 10 watts, otherwise we'd have to start strapping fans to them and battery life would tank. Back on topic: If these handheld consoles were designed to run at under 10 watts, they'd be completely silent and have 3 times the battery life they do now, at the expense of performance (but they'd still be several times faster than a Switch).
One of the very best reviews on this channel. I still think a good gaming laptop fills this user scenario better overall, but this could still be useful for emulation and older games, just like the SteamDeck. It is sad how little of an improvement RDNA3 is actually providing over RDNA2 at lower power draw, eg 7600 compared to 6600 (and the lack of RT improvement in particular is disappointing bc RT perf improvement was one of the only good things about RDNA3). But still, its amazing these devices can run modern AAA games at all, so to me that's icing on the cake, and RT is icing on the icing.
The Steam Deck is still a better choice for older games, it has much better performance at 9W and it's more efficient with capped framerate. I think these Steam Deck opponents still struggle with battery life a lot, I wonder if it's because of Windows. It would be interesting to see these machines running Steam OS to see if there's any improvement in this regard.
@@LuizFernando-li1du 9W is high even. Performance only really takes a dive all the way down at 3W. The Deck chugs along happily anywhere between 5 and 8W and runs titles from a few years ago like a charm. The issue with the Deck is that it stops scaling well at 10W and above, though IMO that's fine for a handheld. I even bought a really long USB extension cable for my Deck, but it's just not as nice as actually being untethered.
A gaming laptop is not an alternative in any way for me. The steam deck on the other hand is my absolute summer gaming machine. Soon I will have finished Dragon Age 1-3 on this thing, and I absolutely loved it.
Hyped for this, competition is great for innovation and consumers. I love the Steam Deck but it's a shame the distribution line hasn't been implemented in many countries, so alternatives can become useful for people.
asus's whole software and side menu is extremely bugged and controls works on and off in games, this thing is a buggy mess and knowing asus, if this doesn't sell well enough they'll drop support like a hot potato under 6 months, leaving people with a clunky mess of an unoptimized menu that will never work long term for future game releases past 2023.
I think most of the world has enough logic that 700+ dollars for 20 fps low setting pc gaming is not something enjoyable that's why it's not spread around lol.
I pre ordered an Ally on the launch day and eagerly awaits the 13 of june. It might not be perfect but the screen and the higher perfomance along with with it running windows so that I can play Warzone and BF 2042 makes it worth it for me.
1080p is a must on Ally since it is using Windows and because most applications and web elements are designed for 1080p UI, a native 1080p screen is better. Believe me I use Windows on Deck when not playing games, the experience is awful and I always needed to connect it to a 1080p portable touch screen.
Pre-ordered the ROG Ally! Being a busy Dad, husband, and career I can't camp out in front of my PS5 for 4+ hours like we used to. But to sneak in an hour to rip through some campaign or play some 2K, this is perfect. Gonna let it rip in Turbo mode with 1080p and 120HZ for those hour bursts. Doubling as a PC is awesome too. I'm a fan of Steam Deck too. For me this is the choice. Thank you DF for the review you guys are top of the hill
Might wanna get one of those 65w 40,000mah power banks. That could probably extend your playtime significantly while still being able to use the turbo modes
@@e2rqeyYeah thx, I have a 40,000 mAh power bank, but it's not 65w 🤔. Slow battery drain while on a battery lol. Not buying a SRT Hellcat for it's gas mileage!
@@thewalletwarrior typing, navigating desktop mode, aiming in combination with gyro, you can make them pop weapon wheels or all sorts of things you can think of to have actions right there. you can set button combinations to cycle between different layouts within the same game. From there you can turn that layout for x game into a template to import into all your other programs. Seriously there's a shitload of things you can do
After a month, this comparison needs a refresh. Stability and performance have gotten better with updates on the Ally. I have a Steam Deck and a few 6800u devices. Drivers had such a huge lead over the Z1 when this video was released.
My fear is asus will not do what valve did and keep supporting the device over a year after launch and counting. I think asus will release a cople updates and then expect you to buy a new one
That's why I bought a steam deck recently, I know valve and they give their games a long lasting support, even old games like tf2, I don't trust Asus 😝, I've been reading news and Valve is realizing updates every now and then for the steam deck, that's why I love valve, they do everything with love
It's a cool looking device and its good to see more competition in the handheld space. However, I think I'll stick with ma trusty Deck and eagerly await Valve's next offerings.
i hope this sells well. I already have a deck and the performance it nets makes me more than happy (and impresses), but Id love for this to be a success and provide competition in the space. Because it looks like a very nice piece of hardware. My only worry is that the portable gaming space is profitable, but niche. So we really may be relegated to one handheld.
@@WHATISUTUBE that's a dumb statement. Since steam deck is literally going for the same market as the Nintendo switch. That's just say handheld gaming isn't NICHE at all!
Biggest problem for Steam Deck competitors is Windows (strictly as an OS), sadly it is beyond bloated that ends up taking resources away from the user, Valve really knocked it out of the park by tailoring the OS for the hardware and eliminating such bloat. Very impressive, this coming from an exclusive windows gamer, one thing going for windows as of now is compatibility across the board.
@@softwarelivre2389 because it wouldn't change anything. And just making the software they would make ALOT more money from all the Windows gaming handhelds out there.
@@LuisPerez-5 they already do, because those weird companies prefer to use windows and have a bad product instead of trying the GNU/Linux approach like Valve did with their SteamOS.
Im excited for it even with all of its "faults" as some would say. My only hope is that Asus actually takes all the criticism and actually work on the issues with updates. Especially with how some people are seeing it get worse performance while being plugged in some of its different modes
I love to see the competition pushing forward the handheld PC market. That said, the Steam Deck's perks like the 4 rear buttons and the dual trackpad are must to have now that I discovered them because they close the gap between a controller and a mouse & keyboard.
@@rambo70141 I can imagine, even if Strategy games are not my cup of tea. What I can tell is that for FPS/TPS games, the right trackpad is far more accurate than the right stick (and it's even better when combined with the gyroscope). The left trackpad allows me to create a radial menu, for all those keyboard keys that don't exist in a gamepad. And the 4 rear buttons open very interesting possibilities. For all of that, I prefer a platform less powerful, but with all these perks to enhance the gameplay.
They can't fix it the bloat from windows isn't going away and it isn't going to magically get a more efficient chip running everything and it won't magically get a bigger battery so yeah it is what it is.
@@antonkirilenko3116 The ally has already received a few updates to its bios and drivers that has already boosted performance. The Phawx (known RU-vid Handheld reviewer) already confirmed this.
Probably would have skipped this video but I heard about it being delayed on the DF Weekly about TotK and this and it actually sounded interesting. As impressive as this is I think I still prefer Steam Deck. Steam Deck has become a sort of standard for me in a similar way the Switch has. Switch just works for the most part, of course things could be better but I don’t like messing around with settings and downloading stuff all the time. Also I love Nintendo original IPs. Steam Deck seems one step between Switch and fully customizable Deck; I know you can really mod the Deck but out of the box it can perform alright without too much meddling. When there is a device with great battery life, a great screen, an affordable price, and great game support then I will consider a new gaming device.
50 minutes on max wattage, 95c even with two fans compared to other handhelds with one fan handling temperatures better it kind of seems like this thing hasnt been thought out as much as Asus wants us to think, I hope you review the AOKZOE A1 Pro when it comes out
Thermals have always been the first limitation before even battery life. If cooling was better, you can bet they'd push even higher wattage and they'd be okay with giving you 30 minutes of battery life.
@@majikarus yea, we're in a kinda damned if you do, damned if you don't situation with this one. It doesn't pull away till at higher tdp and but then you'll probably be playing plugged in....which would defeat of the purpose. And then it performs poorly under 10w....
I guess people don't realize you can download pirated games, and extract them, for FREE just like any other PC. Without messing with any settings. It supports torrent clients, I think people don't realize this. I've seen it with my own eyes. Also extracts packed zipped game files. That's pretty amazing imo. Also 8.6 teraflops, that's more power than the One X!!!
I really like the Ally. Better screen, form factor and performance than the Deck, but it seems like Windows is really holding it back. I hope we get some sort of an "open" steamOS that works on these handheld machines.
How is windows holding it back when you can do more with windows. SteamOS is limited to some steam games only. And I said some because not all steam games are playable out the box. Also with gamepass and emulation, the Ally can do much more. I think once the System is release, you are going to see a large Emulation community doing great things with the Ally, like running the entire switch library.
@@cadizking8161 its because windows tends to be more resource intensive for everything and Asus probably gets less control of the OS itself while Valve can tailor everything on SteamOS to work how they want Edit: Which probably shows the most in the 9W results because thats the least amount of power available and management of said power needs to be handled better, but when windows doesnt offer that control and requires more to run. You lose benefit of the soc improvement in the Ally
@@cadizking8161 because all of the things windows is bad at are really important for a handheld. sleep/wake is broken on windows, power management is ineffecient, windows doesnt play well with 3rd party interfaces (just look at how buggy armory crate is), windows hogs performance compared to linux which is huge given the constrants of the platform. all of these things together leads to the ally losing to the deck occasionally at the same power despite having 2 generations newer cpu tech, newer gpu tech, and more graphics + cpu cores.
@@cadizking8161 the steam deck is just plain better for software and you have way more control over it. windows may have a few edge cases where games work because of anticheat or DRM, but steamOS is just damn stable and feature rich.
Fantastic review. I sold my Deck, then bought another one for $300 because I couldn't justify the $750 for the Ally. I'll take the Deck low power wins and continue to use my Ryzen Desktop if I want top end performance.
@@TNDandTMD If the updates stabilize things, I would consider it because of the dual purpose, and docking it for main PC use. Its a bit nuts that the CPU performance is like a 5600x
The ally is quite sick, seems to be a better docked or plugged in device though more than anything. Ill stick with my steam deck. Cant wait to see what Microsoft does with handheld mode though.
but that's kind of the point that they noted in the video. If the best way to get the most out of the Ally is docked or plugged in? It kind of defeats the point of a handheld PC. May as well get a desktop at that point.
@jason oyola it doesn't get a boost or anything plugged in, it charges in about 2hrs or less from 0% it does charge quite faster than it dies when playing plugged in
Finally a handheld I feel compelled to settle on. Was planning to wait for Deck 2, but this looks just about right as to what I expect from a PC handheld. Windows support means I can play all my Gamepass games as well. Definitely going for the ROG Ally!
Gamepass is legit….a lot of games. I just don’t use it…my son does on his laptop, with one account. I just rather buy the games off steam and get the points and achievements…that being said Xbox/gamepass runs in the windows background….hit the home button in the Xbox controller and it instantly brings up your account and messages etc…
I only play my handhelds on the couch, in bed or in the car. There really isn’t a use case where I wouldn’t have access to a charger, so this is good news for me.
To me, this is a portable only to be used at home when you're in bed or something, not out on the go. For that, it's not worth the money, especially when stacked up against the Steam Deck, which is something I don't believe you mentioned. The cost is a pretty big consideration for many people.
Hasn't cracked it on price for me as a UK potential customer ! £699/$699 might make it only $50 more expensive than the most expensive steam deck but makes it £130 more expensive in the UK and I guess other regions. What is up with that regional pricing discrepancy Asus?
Hmm... Steam Deck here in Europe €419 for the 64Gb base model (easy upgradable to 256Gb, 512Gb or even 1Tb for a cheap price). The ROG Alley is €800. With the present financial crisis I think most people will think twice to pay double the price for a hand-held. Nothing wrong with the Alley, but it does not fit well in the general hand-held market, and most people have not that amount of money to spend. I think there will be a bit of struggle in sales once all "enthousiasts" got their device...
We are finally there in terms of hardware and being held back by software. It’s pretty clear that SteamOS is the way forward for handhelds. Really hope that Valve certifies a few of these manufacturers and supports them in future. This could be a massive step forward. I look forward to getting back into proper handheld gaming after the Vita. My phone handles emulation pretty well, but having a dedicated machine is just so much better!
No we are not battery life, fan noise and optimisation for smaller screeens. Not to mention most newer games running at 360p upscaled with fsr (and not getting 30fps) lmao
I don't really like steam os. I really would prefer to use windows and all other windows apps and games that aren't supported on proton yet. Being that said, if MS doesn't get on their asses to improve mobile windows and Steam os keeps improving, eventually they will get fucked.
Once again, this is a handheld which have a default display resolution. Comparison should not based on 720p. It should based on 1080p on Ally vs 720p/800p on Steam Deck. If not, it will result blur image which is not suit for gaming. Steam deck and Switch using 720p on portable mode is very concern the power consumption. Go back to Ally, so bad they dont let us turn some core off in the bios yet, that mean part of watt wasted on some extra core or the hyper threading and result low operating frequency. If they fixed that or provide more option, then the GPU will have more power distribution and performance gain will further more than Steam Deck. One more thing, lastly, is VRR really suit on a device that have limited battery? as VRR is designed to match the maximum output of limited hardware, that mean it will draw power as much as possible ... ASUS focus on performance, but he have a very different battery philosophy than Steam Deck and Nintendo.
I'm surprised you didn't try testing at least one benchmark with a steam deck running windows, as valve does provide drivers and the controller is fully functional, which works wonders when dealing with stock windows as you have a trackpad instead of a joystick for cursor movement, and once steam is running you have full configuration oarity with SteamOS. If you're willing to use community software, you can even get back TDP and refresh rate control, along with integration of 3rd party launchers into steam, making the experience nearly indistinguishable from SteamOS until you switch from Steam's fullscreen interface to desktop mode. I also think not having a compatibility layer on steam deck could lead to less overhead, meaning better performance or battery depending on your configuration. Just my two cents as somebody who's been dual booting on my steam deck for a while to play incompatible games.
48% more performance on the Steam Deck at 9 watts? That just seems crazy to me. I wonder what Valve is doing (or what ASUS isn’t doing) to reach that kind of power efficiency.
@@zaksabra2227 Stupid statement. Lower wattage means lower power draw and longer battery life. In the old days that's why the GameBoy flat out beat the Game Gear to oblivion in sales and popularity. The reason is simple: battery life is paramount on a handheld portable devices. If you only intend to use it in very short bursts or plugged in, it's more of a desktop replacement than a portable console. I often get around 9-10 hours or battery life in light games like Faster Than Light on the Deck. I dare you to manage to play more than 4 hours on the Ally on battery, not matter the game. I'm not even talking about how the gameplay will be significantly less enjoyable without the trackpads for games that need those. But really, it all boils down to what you play. Indeed, if you intend to play only heavyweight AAA games at the best performance possible then the Ally *may* be more suited for you (even if I think a gaming laptop would be even more suited in that case), but if you play older and lighter games (and not just Far Cry 2), the Deck is still a good tad ahead, in performance and battery life. The results shown here only talk about 9w, because that's what the Ally's silent mode is at. The Deck can go much lower when it comes to older games, and I'm not even takling about retro emulation. While I do understand why some people could be more interested in the Rog Ally than in the Deck, "No one wants low watts" is just dumb and just shows how clueless you are about electronics.
Best comparison video even better with the Ayaneo! Valve seems had done better research in portable PC, the console-like experience in steam deck sets high standard for portable gaming. I do hope portable gaming devices will become better and more power efficient
I preordered the Rog ally. I plan to use it like a switch with a doc to help manage the power modes. Hopefully Asus and Microsoft are working together to improve the optimization for the pc handheld space.
That's also what I'd like to do. It's pretty much a mini desktop computer that you can disconnect if you need to go out (I literally described a laptop lol). The advantage of a handheld is that you can use it while standing or lying in bed
I have both and will take the little time of setting up and getting the settings just right over the deck any day, this is simply an amazing pice of kit and I do thing ASUS did get it right.
Last month I was about to buy the steam deck and considered waiting for more info on the ally to decide Im glad I didn't, basically paid way less buying the 64gb + 1tb SSD + 256sd + dock, still testing some stuff but it delivers what I need including satisfactory battery
think i’m gonna go the same route, with likely the same add ons/upgrades. that money i save will go to buying games since i’ve always been a console gamer. the steam deck seems better in every single way besides the soc which provides slightly better performance at the cost of battery life. and who’s playing brand new AAA games on these things anyways lol? that’s what my ps5 is for
I suspect the base ROG Ally R1 with 6 cpu cores and only 4 GPU compute units is going to have the better bang for your battery against the Steamdeck. It's odd how ASUS didn't go with 6 compute units but I suspect they will be running them at much higher clocks than the 12 compute units that's on the Extreme.
Just sold my PS5 to get this instead to play my huge backlog of steam games. I will wait for a 2nd or 3rd revision though so it’s more refined than the current Ally.
I came to the same conclusions a few days ago and cancelled my order. The whole point of a handheld is that I can use it when I'm not near an outlet. In this one aspect, the Ally fails miserably. I ordered a Zephryus G14 instead.
All i see here is steam deck fan boys trying to justify that steam deck is better than the rog ally. I also have a steam deck and i think my love for seeing what the rog ally will be when fully optimized got me preordering...
Enjoy it's 1 week lifespan, if it turns on at all. I guarantee you'll hate it. 47 year old non-fan man here. lol. Everyone liked the Steam Dick from the beginning, Asus are trying to overcompensate.
You need to also factor in repair and warranty when comparing the two, where you know that if your ASUS product has an issue you could be SOL for an extended period (if they approve the RMA at all). If you're not getting a third-party warranty for your Ally, you're doing it wrong.
I still find it weird that this thing actually has a gyroscope that can’t be used, presumably due to Xinput limitations. This is severely limiting for PC shooters like CS:GO, where the default controller layout involves gyro (& is pretty much necessary to keep up with mouse players). I guess Microsoft really needs to hurry with adding a gyroscope to Xbox controllers.
CS:GO on a tablet? What sort of masochist would play an FPS without aim assist that way? Gyro is certainly better than a pad, but that sounds like torture!
Well if you look at Nintendo's history they are always running behind in terms of tech in their consoles. They have great first party games but with shit hardware who tf cares. I gave the switch a go and couldn't do it
These handhelds run at 720p (usually lower for newet titles) 30fps usually and have battery life of 1-2 hours playing tripppe a games The hardware isn't there yet.
@@wizzenberry with cryotutilities steam deck can handles high settings in many modern games. Besides, why would you want to play at max settings, is just a waste of battery life to begin with
I'm more worried about actual Windows optimization at low power. Running office apps on Win11 on battery saving modes is a painful experience. I'd love to see the Deck vs these in a Linux environment for a better idea. I'm sure Valve tuned their processor and their distro for low power usage which is probably not possible in Win11 in its current state.
Great comparison. I think the potential pay dirt for the Ally is in those consumers who have waited through the pandemic to upgrade their gaming rigs, ready to refresh their PC hardware, like the idea of a handheld, but don’t necessarily want the burden of multiple devices. With the external GPU support, the dock-ability of this device and performance potential may outweigh the price penalty for someone looking to get their mobile and desktop gaming fix in a single machine.
It's odd Rich didn't talk about external GPU support. Awesome feature considering the Ally will have to be tethered to a power outlet to get better than Steam Deck perfomance anyways.
I’d be very curious how a tiny11 install vs stock vs steamos 3.0 does with battery and performance. I use tiny10 on a htpc with an apu that doesn’t access the internet and it increased performance a fair amount.
Use a 65w USB PD3.0 Power Bank to have back up portable power. If you don't want to spend much on power bank, 20,000mAh 30W units can be had for about $40 bucks. Bring snacks for your Ally or Steam Deck when on the go, to add hours to unplugged gaming time.
In regards to the buttons, ASUS yesterday stated that they are re-tooling the button molds. They said they will be sending out new reviewer copies before release. I also noticed that my pre-order date has been changed from 13 June to unknown on my BestBuy receipt and I wouldn't not be surprised at a delay. Are you reviewing the original sample or is this a review of the new version? I'm surprised you didn't bring this up and things are starting to get a bit confusing.
it's worth mentioning the ram in the steam deck is quad, not dual channel, so the steam deck memory bandwidth is much higher, and a large reason for the steam deck's apu performance being so good. you can see how much more consistent steam deck frame rates are on the graph, albiet lower.
I'm a little disappointed that the Steam Deck is starting to seem obsolete after only one year, but it still seems absolutely worth it for the OS, support, and repairability. I'd love for them to put out something like the Ally later but with a VRR OLED and their Valvey touch. And the instant sleep/resume is CRITICAL for handheld gaming, they make it possible for me to play longer-form games again.
Something will be outdated in less time than it takes to sneeze. Honestly, don't pay attention to it. If you keep wanting that next best thing as soon as it comes out then the marketing is working. Enjoy the things you havey dude. I don't see steam deck as being outdated really. It's been a pace setter for these handhelds. Ally in my eyes looks to be a step higher in terms of performance if you are wired or above that 15w threshold. That said portables are always going to be this balancing act. The more wattage you draw, the less time you have on battery. Right now l, trying to push 20-25 watts on these 40wh batteries is probably at the very edge of what I'd say is a "playable" amount of time. Though I'd really like to see double the playtime at the 20 watt mark. I'm excited to see how battery tech improves. That's when things really start to take off. To surmise, I think you can look at things two ways. 1. Just see the performance (which is really exciting) but will keep you wanting for the next big thing (I'm guilty of this) or 2. Look further ahead down the line. What would be a future innovation that could take this to the next level? Yeah 20-30% more performance is great but there are other factors to weigh here too. I don't subscribe to just 1. or just 2. Keep things ballenced you know?
It's not really outdated, how many other handhelds at $400 are beating the Steam Deck right now? Of course a device with twice the price the tag will blow the Steam Deck out of the water. The Steam Deck's strength is the low price point and will still be picked up by the people that don't want to spend more than $400 on a handheld.
Yeah, the ROG ALLY isn't worth the premium. And apparently the ROG Ally has terrible battery even at 15w limit. They should have gone with a 720p display.
valve is absolutely smart in playing the same game in nintendo which is focusing on the screen and battery life. Waiting a while for a sizable jump in both capability + maximizing power comsumption is the right move and I feel asus has missed the mark a bit by just bumping up resolution and framerate. Obviously it's suppose to be a more powerful machine, thats the draw but think they could have focused more on stability than horsepower. Maybe more so hitting the marks where steam deck is lacking rather than trying to outright beat it
Great video, thanks! Basically this Ally needs a powerbank. I think it's okay because soft wires don't disturb me this much and 1-2 hours is enough for me to get close to charging What would have been a disaster - a +100 grams of weight due to bigger battery. But I'd pick cooling over battery any time and this is a correct choice.
@@e2rqey you don't need 65w power bank lol, just a basic one with even at least 18 or 30w which are quite inexpensive. There's a 30wh xiaomi powerbank that costs maybe 40 bucks. I have a very compact 10wh powerbank with 18w so that's maybe 30 minutes of AAA gaming. Idk why you need more than that. If you're at home, get a charger, if you're in a car, use the car. If you're in metro you don't spend 2 hours there
I pre-ordered my RoG Ally as it integrates better into my Gaming set-up - coming from mainly Consoles (|Series X/PS5) and never used Steam, the fact I have Game Pass Ultimate and purchased 'digital' play anywhere 'Xbox' games, I automatically have 'some' games to play without needing to 'purchase' games. Battery Life is kind of 'unimportant' to me. I doubt I'll use it 'much' on Battery alone as I expect to use this when I can't or don't see the point in turning on the Consoles. I can still play my games sat on the Sofa whilst the TV is in use, play in my bedroom as its 'easier and more convenient' than moving my Series X, more likely to 'play' games in those little 'windows' of time I have but not worth turning the Series X on knowing you have a 'limited' time to game. It's not as if I have to turn off the RoG Ally when the family want to use the TV... As such, I expect to use this mostly around the Home. Be able to play 'anywhere' and for as 'long' as I want/can, offers much more flexibility etc - I'd rather take this on Holiday than my Laptop or a Series S (and/or a screen). Another aspect that I like is the External GPU's - the Mobile 4090 - which I can use as a Dock to get 4k gaming on my TV - maybe replace my Series X...
ETA prime did a video of the ally running steam os very interesting, once this is out I am sure the Linux community will make this awesome so we don’t have to rely on windows, dual boot would be great. Best of both worlds
This is interesting and I have been watching a lot of these comparison videos. I also watched the last Asus video, where they eaid they were working on a lot of these issues. Im not as worried about the battery as some, because I still play these handhelds close to an outlet and plugged in. This is also early software so there will be updates and improvements. Not making excuses for any shortcomings of the Ally. I do have one pre-ordered, but I don't think its a perfect device. I was encouraged when asus said they would support this device for a long time, we will see if thats true, but still encouraging none the less.I will do my own comparison and make up my own mind inve I receive mine June 13.